Counter holder for game counters



Dec. 5, 1939. M. s. COWEN 2,182,4

COUNTER HOLDER FOR GAME COUNTERS Filed Nov. 4, 1938 FIE IE ORIGINAL 550m 66 as '10 Y '12 il-l FI E

INVEN TOR.

Merl gm j. (on/an Patented Dec. 5, 1939 UNITE STATES ATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

- This invention relates to a counter holder and has for one of its objects an improved counter holder to be employed on games using counters,

which holder comprises a post adapted to freely extend through the central circular apertures in annular disk-like counters for supporting a stack of such counters, and which post is provided with means for quickly securing the counters against removal therefrom without injury to the counters, by merely turning a portion of the post a fractional turn.

Another object is a counter holder of the above character which is cheap to make, strong, and durable and neat in appearance and without projecting parts susceptible to injury.

Other objects will appear in the specification and drawing.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of my counter holder secured to one end of a Mah jongg rack, the rack being broken in length.

'Fig. 2 is a plan view of my counter holder on a rack as illustrated in Fig. 1.

' Fig. 3 is an enlarged view, partly in section and partly in elevation, taken along line 33 of Fig. 2, and showing the counter supporting post actuated to permit removal of counters therefrom.

Fig. 4 is a View substantially the same as in Fig. 3, but showing the counter supporting post in actuated position to hold the counters against removal therefrom.

In detail, Figs. 1 and 2 show a conventional, elongated, Mah jongg rack I, substantially as shown in United States Letters Patent No. 1,559,678, dated November 3, 1925. At one end of the rack is a plate 2 provided with a flange 3, which flange is secured by any suitable means, such as screws, to the rack. The plate 2 carries thereon a plurality of upright posts 4 secured at their lower ends to the plate, each post being adapted to extend through the central apertures of annular disk-like counters 5 for supporting the counters in vertical stacks.

The posts referred to above are best illustrated in Figs. 3, 4, and each post 4 is cylindrical and is rigidly secured to plate 2 at its lower end by any suitable means, such as. soldering or riveting. The upper end of each post is formed with an outwardly opening, internally threaded recess 6 extending axially of the post, with the sides of the recess around the opening being outwardly flared, and smooth, as shown at 1. The upwardly and outwardly inclined sides of the recess terminate radially inwardly of the outer sides. of the post and the upper end edge of the post is square,

or perpendicular to the length of the post, thus providing a substantially flat, annular supporting surface 8 for a split spring ring 9, which ring,

is normally of substantially the same outside di- '5 ameter as the outside diameter of the post.

The ring 9 is expanded by an inverted, generally frustoconical member II], the slanted sides of which substantially correspond in the degree of slant, to the slanted flat sides 1 of the recess 10 6, said member being provided with a downwardly extending threaded extension H, extending axially thereof, and a cylindrical extension i2 extends upwardly from the base of the member 10, which extension I2 is of an outside diameter not greater than the outside diameter of the post. The outer sides of extension l2 are preferably knurled, as indicated in the drawing.

The central circular aperture l3 of the counters 5 are of a diameter to freely slide over the extension l2, ring 9 and post 4 for forming a stack supported on plate 2, when the member I0 is loosened by turning the extension l2, (Fig. 3), but upon turning the extension l2 to move the member ID downwardly, it will be seen that the slanted sides of the said member Ill will cause the ring 9 to expand to a degree where the counters cannot be slipped over the ring (Fig. 4) and also the correspondingly slanted surfaces of member Ill and the recess in the post will engage if the extension I2 is turned sufiiciently, to prevent any further expansion of ring 9 and to also tighten the'ring expanding element against accidental loosening.

It is, of course, manifest that the extension I2 on the ring expanding element may be of any desired contour, provided the maximum crosssectional diameter does not exceed that-of the post.

It is, of course, obvious that the posts of my de-' 40 vice may be disposed either vertical or horizontal, the base member supporting the posts at one of their ends being a plate, as illustrated in the drawing or any suitable bracket, or the posts may be horizontal and centrally supported with the expansion rings at opposite ends. These are obvious mechanical expedients that are intended to come within the scope of the invention, since the fundamental function of each post is to support the counters in alignment in stacks, and the invention itself is in the nature of means for efficiently and quickly locking or releasing the counters for sliding from the posts within, removal of any elements from the post, or clamping the counters or modifying the appearance of the 55,

posts, by merely making a fractional turn of a portion of each post in one direction or the other according to whether the counters are to be removed or retained on the posts.

By using my invention, the accidental upsetting of the holder with the counters thereon, or careless handling of the holder cannot cause the counters to spill from the posts, as is heretofore the case, and there are no latches, clips, or undesirable projections on the posts to catch in clothing or the like.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A game counter holder comprising a post adapted to slidably support a plurality of apertured counter disks in a row thereon with the post extending through the apertures in said disks, a support for the post secured to one end thereof and the opposite end of the post being free for sliding the disks thereover, an expansible member at said opposite end normally disposed Within the confines of the said opposite end and expansible radially of the longitudinal axis of the post to project radially outwardly of the sides of the post to a position obstructing the passage of disks on the post over said end, and means on said opposite end of the post manually movable to cause expansion of said member to said position upon movement of said means in one direction and said expansible member being automatically retractable to within the confines of said opposite end .upon movement of said means in the opposite direction.

2. In a construction as defined in claim 1, said post being cylindrical and of uniform diameter from end to end thereof and said means comprising an element disposed substantially within the confines of the said opposite end of the post and threadedly secured in said opposite end for turning in said one direction to cause said element to move toward said opposite end axially of the post, and said expansible member comprising a spring ring split transversely thereof at one point, said ring being disposed between said element and said other end of the post for engagement between the adjacent ends of the post and element when the element is moved toward said opposite end, one of the said adjacent ends being formed with a generally conical ring engaging surface coaxial with the axis of the ring extending into said ring and positioned to cause spreading of said ring when said element is moved toward said post.

3. A post for slidably supporting a plurality of centrally apertured game counter disks in a row thereon with the post slidably extending through the apertures in said disks, a radially expansible ring coaxial therewith supported against one end of said post normally disposed substantially .within the confines of said end and actuatable for radial expansion to a position projecting radially outwardly of the sides of said post at said one end of the latter, a ring expanding element threadedly secured to said one end for movement of the element toward and away from said post axially thereof upon rotation of said element, said element being arranged and adapted to engage said ring for causing expansion thereof to said position when moved toward the post, and said ring being automatically retractable to within the confines of said end when said means is moved in direction away from said post and said element being disposed at all times substantially within the confines of said one end whereby the counter disks on said pQSt will slide freely over said ring and element when the latter is moved in direction away from the post, but which disks are obstructed against removal from over said one end when, the said ring is expanded by movement of said element in direction toward said post.

4. In a construction as defined in claim 3, said ring being of spring metal and split transversely of its circumferential length at one. point therearound, and said element being formed with a generallyconical surface coaxial of the central axis of the ring and post with the smaller diameter end of said surface adjacent said one end of the post, said surface being adapted to engage the generally radially inner surface of the ring when said element is moved toward the post for causing expansion of said ring.

MERVYN S. COWEN. 

